Belt having interchangeable decorative strips

ABSTRACT

A belt of the type intended to be fastened around the torso of the user has one or more decorative strips detachably fastened to the outside of the belt. The decorative strips are readily removable so that they may be replaced by other strips in order to be coordinated with the garment being worn.

United States Patent 1191 Rand [451 Nov. 19, '1974 p BELT HAVING INTERCIIANGEABLE DECORATIVE STRIPS [76] Inventor? Robert B. Rand, PO. Box 1939,

Daytona Beach, Fla. 32015 [22] Filed: May 8, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 358,414

[52] US. Cl 2/311, D2/387, 2/338 [51] Int. CI. A4lf 9/00 [58] Field of Search 2/300, 311, 322, 325, 336,

[56] Referenees Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 594,201 11/1897 Frothingham 2/338 X 2,084,720 6/1937 Alexandre 2/338 X 2,427,119 9/1947 Bensel 2/338 Dye et a1. 2/300 3,426,363 2/1969 Girard 2/338 D9,492 9/1876 Brigham D2/380 R7,879 9/1877 Muller 2/300 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,067,650 6/1954 France 2/300 Primary Examiner-Geo V. Larkin Attorney, Agent, or Firm Laurence, Stokes 8L Neilan [57] ABSTRACT A belt of the type intended to be fastened around the torso of the user has one or more decorative strips detachably fastened to the outside of the belt. The decorative strips are readily removable so that they may be replaced by other strips in order to be coordinated with the garment being worn.

1 Claim, 8 Drawing Figures PAIENTEE rsnv 1 9 I914 SMET 1 0F 2 v mt PATENIE rzuv I 91914 SlEHEIFZ BELT HAVING INTERCHANGEABLE DECORATIVE STRIPS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to belts of the type which are intended to support and/or hold in place garments such as trousers, dresses, skirts and the like which are normally worn with belts around the torso of the wearer. More specifically the invention relates to novel belts of this type having readily interchangeable decorative strips.

As a consequence of recent changes in styles and fashions in wearing apparel for men, women, and children, it has recently become fashionable to coordinate the colors or designs on the principal article of clothing with the wearer's belt and other accessory items. With the advent of a trend toward wearing wide belts rather than traditional narrow belts, greater emphasis is now placed upon the color and/or style of belts. Thus, in order to be in step with these fashion trends, a person should have a plurality of belts of different colors and- /or styles.

It is obvious that this approach to being in style requires a larger expenditure upon one s wardrobe due to having to purchase a larger number of belts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel torso surrounding belt for use with articles of clothing, which belt has readily detachable and interchangeable decorative strips of trim or braid on the outside of the belt. Thus, when utilizing a belt according to the present invention, rather than having to have different belts for use with different garments in order to be in style, the wearer may utilize the same belt but change the decorative strip or strips on the outside of the belt with a consequent economic saving.'The decorative strip or strips used at any one time may take various forms such as trim or braid, and may extend around substantially all of the blet or may cover only sections of the length of the belt.

The decorative strips are preferably readily detachably fastened to the outside of the belt employing cooperating hook and loop type fasteners. Other types of fasteners including snap fasteners are also within the scope of the invention.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent as this description proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a top elevational view of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, with one end of the decorative strip detached from the belt and folded over.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG.

I FIG. 3 is a top elevational view like FIG. 1 of another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a top elevational view like FIG. 1 of a further embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of the back side of one end of the belt of FIG. 5

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 generally designates a garment supporting belt in accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the invention. Attached to the outer surface 12 of a leather, body encircling belt there is a readily detachable decorative strip 14 which extends almost all the way around the belt and at one end terminates close to the belt buckle l6 and at the other end terminates adjacent the last hole 17 in the tongue end 19 of the belt. The outer surface of the decorative strips 14 may be comprised of any desired colored and/or designed braid, trim, fabric or even another type of leather than that constituting the remaincler of the belt.

Preferably the decorative strip 14 is attached to the outer belt surface 12 via the complimentary interengagement of a strip 18 of a hook type fabric fastener element attached to the outer surface 12 with a cooperating strip 20 of a loop type fastener which is secured to the inner surface of the decorative strip 14. Hook and loop type fasteners of this construction are commercially available under the trademark Velcro and are usually made of stiff nylon or polyester monofilaments. Typical fasteners of this type are disclosed in deMestral US Pat. No. 2,717,437. Preferably the fasteners 18 and 20 extend essentially the full length of the decorative strip,-however, it is also contemplated that the fasteners may be discontinuous, that is, in the form of a plurality of smaller spaced fasteners.

FIG. 3 illustrates another embodiment of the invention and is substantially similar to the previously described embodiment except in this case a narrow decorative strip 14' is attached utilizing cooperating pairs of snap fasteners 22 on the belt and 24 on the decorative strip, respectively. In this embodiment the snap fasteners 24'are attached to an inner layer 32 of the decorative strip 14 so that the fasteners 24 are not visible when the decorative strip 14' is in place.

FIG. 5 illustrates a further embodiment of the invention in which a decorative strip 30 is attached to a narrower belt backing strip 32 by snap fasteners 34 and 36 on the backing strip and on the decorative strip respectively. In this embodiment the snap fasteners 36 have flat external heads 38 which are visible when the decorative strip 30 is in place and constitute part of the decorative design.

The buckle of this embodiment comprises a pair of interengaging loops 40, 42 with narrowed central neck portions 44 at opposite ends of the belt.

The decorative strip 30 is both wider and longer than the backing strip 32. As illustrated in FIGS. Sand 7, the ends of the strip 30 are passed through the loops 40 and 42 and detachably secured to the inner surface of the backing strip 32 by cooperating snap fasteners 46 and 48 respectively.

As shown in FIG. 8, the ends of the decorative strip 30.may optionally be detachably fastened to the inner surface of the backing strip 32 by Velcro type loop and hook fasteners 50 and 52 rather than by the snap fasteners 46, 48 of FIG. 7.

Regardless of which embodiment of the invention is utilized, it will be appreciated that it is a relatively simple matter to remove a given decorative strip and retachable, elongated decorative strip means connected to the outer side of said member, cooperating fastener means for fastening said decorative strip means to said member comprising cooperating fastener elements on both the outer side of said member and the adjacent side of said decorative strip means, a buckle for attaching end portions of said member to each other, and said decorative strip means having an end passing through said buckle and secured to the inner side of said member. 

1. A belt for fastening around the torso of a wearer, comprising a body encircling member having in operative position an inner side and an outer side, readily detachable, elongated decorative strip means connected to the outer side of said member, cooperating fastener means for fastening said decorative strip means to said member comprising cooperating fastener elements on both the outer side of said member and the adjacent side of said decorative strip means, a buckle for attaching end portions of said member to each other, and said decorative strip means having an end passing through said buckle and secured to the inner side of said member. 